This could end up being a way to drop a lot of inexpensive probes all over Mars and have the wind tumble them around, instead of them being motorized. The nitinol wire hoop could have another shape cooked into it that unfurls in the heat of starlight or electricity from the solar cell wafer. So the disc might change shape to a curvy potato chip, or a paraboloid. If you've ever sees a rolling frisbee or coffee cup lid sailing along on the wind, they can move impressively.

They might carry a simple chemical soil sensor or a camera. The film can act as a sound capturing membrane, though the air is pretty thin.

One mission I can think of for the Earth orbit and re-entry ones is, if they can fall slowly enough, to grab samples of upper-air dust and germs as it passes thru them, with some kind of glue layer that activates only after entry interface.

On the moon, they are going to sit wherever they hit. Can't imagine a way to make them mobile except maybe for electrostatics/ solar wind. What kind of printable sensor could detect Helium 3? Or ice?

Two sheets of these, hinged together, could make a spherical shape, as well as a radar retroreflector.

Um, a spectrometer? You know, like how they found helium in the Sun in the 19th century? By just looking at light? No need to actually go there. Geez. You make it sound like technology hasn't advanced since the 19th century.

Quantum Apostrophe:Any Pie Left: I'm going to get one to launch, and write Quantum Apostrophe's name on it.

Don't waste your money. Just give it to me, I'll print a picture of a submarine, drop it in the ocean and call myself an explorer.

TheAlmightyOS: Quantum Apostrophe: This is so stupid.

I don't think I have ever agreed with a single opinion of yours, QA. But I have to admit you are right. This is insanely stupid.

/spacer

Give it time, you'll find out you've agreed with me all along.

highly doubt it. I find the technologies being researched and improved upon that you so strongly oppose of to be a benefit to humanity as a whole. While space travel between stars may not become reality for centuries, the technology that is developed in the pursuit of that goal could lead to breakthroughs in other fields, such as life extension, in the meantime.

Yes, I am a dreamer. Many things I imagine will never be reality. However, without the dream and the ambition to make that dream a reality technological advances would come to a standstill

TheAlmightyOS:While space travel between stars may not become reality for centuries,

Voyager is already leaving the Solar System, on decades-old technology. Oh you mean "space travel" like going on a 747 today? Like you just sit there for 6 hours, complain about the service, and then you walk off the plane in a different part of the universe, within a human lifetime?

How about "never"? That work for you?

TheAlmightyOS:the technology that is developed in the pursuit of that goal

That is such nonsense. Space is the apex of the technological pyramid, not the base.

If you think space drives technology and creates this wonderful utopia to live in, move to Russia. They beat you in almost every space milestone.

TheAlmightyOS: While space travel between stars may not become reality for centuries,

Voyager is already leaving the Solar System, on decades-old technology. Oh you mean "space travel" like going on a 747 today? Like you just sit there for 6 hours, complain about the service, and then you walk off the plane in a different part of the universe, within a human lifetime?

How about "never"? That work for you?

TheAlmightyOS: the technology that is developed in the pursuit of that goal

That is such nonsense. Space is the apex of the technological pyramid, not the base.

If you think space drives technology and creates this wonderful utopia to live in, move to Russia. They beat you in almost every space milestone.

Yet I'm sure you laugh at Russian technology.

How do you reconcile these two facts?

TheAlmightyOS: Yes, I am a dreamer.

Good for you. Dreams don't move atoms. Engineering out of real materials does.

TheAlmightyOS: However, without the dream and the ambition to make that dream a reality technological advances would come to a standstill

You are mixing up several ideals and worldviews here. You are also assuming all dreams have the same intrinsic value, no matter who has them.

Wrong.

I see you are being as hostile and shortsighted as ever. I am not sure why I wanted to have civil discussion with the infamous Quantum Apostrophe. Maybe I had hoped that under all that hate was a sensible person that was just misunderstood. I am sorry to have been mistaken

TheAlmightyOS:I see you are being as hostile and shortsighted as ever. I am not sure why I wanted to have civil discussion with the infamous Quantum Apostrophe. Maybe I had hoped that under all that hate was a sensible person that was just misunderstood. I am sorry to have been mistaken

Can you point out what is hostile about what I said? Can you answer the simple question of why you don't move to Russia?This is hostile to you?You poor hothouse flower.

Quantum Apostrophe:TheAlmightyOS: I see you are being as hostile and shortsighted as ever. I am not sure why I wanted to have civil discussion with the infamous Quantum Apostrophe. Maybe I had hoped that under all that hate was a sensible person that was just misunderstood. I am sorry to have been mistaken

Can you point out what is hostile about what I said? Can you answer the simple question of why you don't move to Russia?This is hostile to you?You poor hothouse flower.

"Poor hothouse flower" is quite hostile. And your "simple question" is just a bait to illicit anger.

I will answer your question with another. I ask this honestly with no malice: Why when you debate in these threads do you attack those who have opposing viewpoints?

Although I do not agree with you QA, I do respect your viewpoint. It just seems from your posts that you do not respect ours. It may be unintentional or it may be by design. I would like to know which it is from the source.

Any Pie Left:AlmightyOS, you are forgetting that QA is a troll, and picking stupid fights is what gets him off. Don't feed his sexual urges.

You may be right. But I have seen non-troll comments from him before. I have been on the other end of of this where my viewpoint was being misunderstood as well as my tone and thought that might be happening to QA. Just wanted to test my theory before putting him on ignore

I would love it if the thread could get around to sharing some ideas of what kind of specific experiments one could conduct with these things as defined in the kickstarter. What would you have to do to one to get it to orient itself with relation to the sun or earth, and naturally want to stay that way? The nitinol tension ring is also the radio antenna. But another antenna could be printed on the kapton plastic fabric... or a coil? Could the little solar cell chips charge the antenna or surface coil electrostatically and make the disk react to the Terrestrial magnetic field for orientation? If you could get a group of these to all orient to the sun like flowers can, they could begin to function as a "fleet" instead of discrete network devices. If you can make them all "want" to point sunward, each one is going to act like a solar sail the whole time it is in sunlight, slowly elongating the elliptical orbit on the sunlit side... until they break free and head outwards.

Any Pie Left:. What would you have to do to one to get it to orient itself with relation to the sun or earth, and naturally want to stay that way?

Some sort of reaction drive, like this?

Any Pie Left:Could the little solar cell chips charge the antenna or surface coil electrostatically and make the disk react to the Terrestrial magnetic field for orientation?

Not big enough.

Any Pie Left:If you could get a group of these to all orient to the sun like flowers can, they could begin to function as a "fleet" instead of discrete network devices. If you can make them all "want" to point sunward, each one is going to act like a solar sail the whole time it is in sunlight, slowly elongating the elliptical orbit on the sunlit side... until they break free and head outwards.

I don't think I have ever agreed with a single opinion of yours, QA. But I have to admit you are right. This is insanely stupid.

/spacer

You guys don't see how this is a good marketing run for a possibly big idea? An idea that in the future with much more advanced machines, common citizens could participate in crowd sourced space exploration?

Completely short sighted and uncreative people we've got around here.

I for one am tempted to buy the software developer's package and use my coding skills on this awesomeness.

How dare you question our glorious destiny as a species to send webcams to take pictures of dust!?

Huh!!?? Well!!!

lol...remember..I am the BIGGEST spacenutter on fark (and biggest life existensionist as well.... including you!)even I think this is stupid waste.With that said:I am still waiting for your answer on why you believe that when life-extension is discovered that the powers-that-be will grant you as an individual access to the discovery?

mr lawson:I am still waiting for your answer on why you believe that when life-extension is discovered that the powers-that-be will grant you as an individual access to the discovery?

That would suppose that life extension would be one single discovery made by people with the discretionary power to not sell it.The same question can be asked of any medical discovery.Did the powers-that-be restrict access of insulin to diabetics? I mean, besides the usual barriers anyone faces like being born in a crap country or worse, being poor?

And what makes you think the powers-that-be will let you fart your way to Mars?

Hmmm!???

We already live in a society with doctors and hospitals... But you think life-extension will be what exactly? Like this one magic pill that only one person will know how to make?

Or that life extension would be so simple as to have only one solution?

Life extension will probably depend on dozens if not hundreds of different approaches and chemicals and what not.

I mean just here we are talking about cloning bodies and swapping heads. (Not gonna happen, but...)

So what about understanding how AGE molecules work in humans and reversing that?

You think it's going to be only one person working one approach, and that lone person will then say "Nope, not selling it to anyone" and then will burn his lab and commit suicide?

I'm just trying to understand why you'd ask such a question.

I mean, you assume Elon Musk will just magnanimously grant you private space travel for 5$, right?

Quantum Apostrophe:torusXL: An idea that in the future with much more advanced machines, common citizens could participate in crowd sourced space exploration?

What is to "explore", please?

You want to know what's short-sighted? Being happy with a handful of decades of life in a universe billions of light years across.

And what does "creativity" have to do with space? You want to be creative? Become an artist.

Yes, I am happy to play a part in a process which, sure, I'll never live to see, but one which I can make a small change now that will be a giant change later so that future generations can benefit. Because I'm not the petulant, bitter, strange childman that you appear to be.

A project like this gives a lot of benefits, such as practice for engineers. It could be a precursor to technologies such as Von Neumann probes which could explore the entire galaxy in less than 1 million years. Most of all, it gives laymen citizens the chance to get in on it earlier.

torusXL:Do you need a psychiatrist? Or maybe a nap and some carrot sticks afterward?

Now I'm thinking that you probably need a psychiatrist, nap, and carrot sticks all together.

It's not harmless when you believe we only have technology because of space. This demeans all the people that worked hard to advance technology with nothing to do with space.It's not harmless when you squander otherwise intelligent people on jackassery and delusions.It's not harmless when you never question your assumptions because you refuse to look at reality.It's not harmless when you think that people that don't share your "enthusiams" are short-sighted or uncreative.It's not harmless when people come with this whole religious nonsense about the species and exploring when it's just pictures of a farking vacuum, of which we already have pictures.

It would be harmless if people just looked at this and thought "OK, do we really need more pictures of dust?"

torusXL:Yes, I am happy to play a part in a process which, sure, I'll never live to see, but one which I can make a small change now that will be a giant change later so that future generations can benefit.

Religion.

torusXL:Because I'm not the petulant, bitter, strange childman that you appear to be.

But taking pictures of a vacuum while thinking you are doing something great for future generations is the definition of a sane rational adult, eh?

torusXL:A project like this gives a lot of benefits, such as practice for engineers.

That could be said for any project.

torusXL:It could be a precursor to technologies such as Von Neumann probes which could explore the entire galaxy in less than 1 million years.

So what about understanding how AGE molecules work in humans and reversing that?Yes..but what is their motivation? Think!

You think it's going to be only one person working one approach, and that lone person will then say "Nope, not selling it to anyone" and then will burn his lab and commit suicide?

Quit thinking money!

I'm just trying to understand why you'd ask such a question.

What is your motivation for life extension?

I mean, you assume Elon Musk will just magnanimously grant you private space travel for 5$, right?

Once again..I do not..and that is the point!

I want to live forever. I know I can't do it alone. I refuse to place my "trust" in third parties that might or might not grant me my wish.Solution: Build my own team that is far enough away from those who would want to acquire it for themselves. To hell with "profit"!

Quantum Apostrophe:torusXL: Yes, I am happy to play a part in a process which, sure, I'll never live to see, but one which I can make a small change now that will be a giant change later so that future generations can benefit.

Here is your binky and a nice cool blankey. Actually, I've thought about it and you get to have peanut butter & raisins in a celery stick!!! Not because you've been good, but because QA is throwing a bitty tempy-tantrum!

mr lawson:So what about understanding how AGE molecules work in humans and reversing that?Yes..but what is their motivation? Think!

Exploring? :) The same as anything. Some people like to understand, some are motivated for personal reasons (like seeing picture of kids with progeria when I was a kid. My parents subscribed to the Mayo Clinic journal but didn't think to lock them away...)

You're just feeding him by engaging him, and giving him just what he wants: to divert the conversation and make everything about dealing with him. This guy is a quantum a-hole. Walk away. You want to win, you keep ignoring him and carrying on as if he's not here.